Tackling diseases in cattle and sheep could cut 10% of methane emissions according to a new report into ruminant health and welfare.

The co-author of ‘Acting on methane: Opportunities for the UK cattle and sheep sectors’ , Dr Philip Skuce, principal scientist at Moredun Research Institute, said it was a ‘call to arms’ for livestock farmers to start making a difference now.

The new report from the Moredun and Ruminant Health & Welfare (RH&W), sets out how improved livestock health can help the UK achieve its pledge of a 30% reduction in methane emissions by 2030. The top three measures to achieve the target are improved growth rates, better feed conversion and reducing involuntary culling and/or abortions.

Dr Skuce explained that tackling diseases were vital to reducing methane emissions on farm. He said: “Studies reveal that gastrointestinal parasites lead to a minimum 10% increase in GHG emissions in lamb production. Similarly, liver fluke infection adds an extra 11 days to slaughter in cattle, reducing growth rate by 4% and adding 2% to the GHG footprint.

“Ruminant health is one of a small, but important, group of mitigation measures which can reduce emissions while also delivering a cost-benefit. Progress on health is identified immediately through herd or flock performance data, which feeds into on-farm carbon calculators and the national inventory. The tools and resources identified in the report, for example monitoring and mapping out disease goals, are already available for farmers to utilise now.”

Despite the critical importance of methane reduction in cattle and sheep Dr Skuce was hesitant to embed an animal health element into the new future farm support rules which are due to start in 2025. He stated that the focus could be lost if animal health was an element of a large overarching government farm support scheme.

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Chair of RH&W, Nigel Miller, said that personally he would like all farmers to have a strategy for purchasing low risk livestock and a vaccination plan which was signed off by a vet. This would be alongside a national programme for Johne's disease, sheep scab and potentially Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis. Disease eradication might not be possible in all cases explained Mr Miller, but the instances could be reduced through risk management.

The authors also stressed that Government believes any efficiency gains achieved should not increase the total number of cattle and sheep on the ground. Rather, any land which was no longer needed for animal production would go into energy crops, coppiced trees, agro-forestry or woodland expansion. This follows a number of climate change reports which have recommended the public eats 20% less red meat and dairy.

Welcoming the report, National Sheep Association chief executive Phil Stocker said: “You can’t deny that reducing days to slaughter will reduce methane emissions, but this needs to be within the context of driving efficiency generally through good health and good nutrition etc rather than any industry/policy direction as this will affect markets and trade as well as having wider consequences overfeeding and pasture management, that could, in turn, have wider carbon or nature implications.”

NSA warned policymakers that current methods of measuring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions, alongside blunt solutions like reducing livestock numbers, not only painted the agricultural sector in a bad light but ignored real-time scientific research in favour of more appropriate solutions that safeguard farmers' livelihoods and lifestyles as well as supporting production, the landscape and the environment.

Mr Stocker added: “There can be no one blueprint for the sheep industry on these sort of issues – it’s a matter of getting farmers aware of, and ‘owning’ the environmental challenges, and giving them the options as to potential solutions.”